France/Late CtW
CtW Guide In Renovatio Europam, France faces a nightmare scenario. The English have all but broken into Normandie and Guyenne, while Vreizh to the north-west is all but devastated. France has hardly any tribute and only two bonus cards, so it is at the mercy of the English in many ways who are at war with it. Worse, the English are also allied to the Catalans of Aragon to the south, who rule a vast and powerful empire that threatens your southern borders. Your first task will be to fortify your borders against the English. The good news is that the English armies are all stuck at home in England, and you have allies in the form of the Scots and Burgundians, so you have time to find armies for a counterattack. Vlaanderen, Lorraine and Liguria are all within striking distance of you, so choose wisely. Your other allies include Armenian Cyprus and Castille, but they tend to be too far to be of actual use for you, since your early battles will all be in northern and western France — Cyprus will most likely be annihilated, while the Spanish powers may prove to be potentially lethal rivals. Although you will notice that most of the Holy Roman Empire is as good as gone, you need to concentrate on the task at hand — that is to defend yourself against the English invaders. Optimally, a good way to start the French campaign is to buy peace with the Catalans, so that you don't need to worry about a two-front war. Once the Catalan threat is effectively dealt with, launch attacks on Normandie in order to stop them from menacing your capital, then begin a march northwards into the Low Countries to keep the English out. Once the last Englishman in the whole of Franconia is repulsed and you have reunited all of France under your banner, you will be rewarded with 2 Military eureka cards. The Danish Norse to the east may prove to be a problem if they grow too huge — you can try letting Burgundy grow in order to suppress them, but the Burgundians are somewhat antagonistic and are intent on conquering all and sundry, so you need to be careful even after you conquer all of France once more. Intervention in the Low Countries will ensure that Denmark will not attack you and you will receive 3 Merchant Guild cards, but this will cause the Austrians to and annul all friendly relations with you, and then try to form an alliance with Spain against you. France is also one of five factions in the game capable of creating overseas colonies towards the end of the Castle Age. Colonies are a force to reckon with: they provide streams of tribute, and also supply additional rare resources. The French player may obtain an extra army as long as the number of colonies it controls is higher than 4. 70px|center CtW objectives *Eliminate all non-aligned factions or acquire 10 colonies *Secondary tasks: **Conquer both Vrieslan and Vlaanderen to prevent Danish expansion in Franconia and to gain a bonus of 3 Merchant Guild cards. **Reclaim France (your initial territories plus Vreizh; Guyenne; Normandie) to gain 2 military Eureka cards. **Raise the Seine Basin to level 8 by turn 3 in order to gain an allaince with the Chagatai Initial start: *Territories: Seine Basin (level 4); Provence (level 3; wine); Loire Valley (level 1); Vlaanderen (level 1, supply x 1) *Allies: Burgundy; Cyprus; Scotland; Castille *Enemies: England, Aragon *file:tribute.png: 50 *file:bonus.png: 1 x Science Eureka; 1 x Bandits; 1 x Merchant Guild Sphere of influence *France, being **Seine Basin **Provence **Loire Valley **Vlaanderen **Vreizh **Guyenne **Normandy; and *Germany: Lorraine *Iberia: Navarre; Catalonia *Italy: Lombardy; Liguria; Corsica Category:CtW